Demi-Demigod
by small-squad
Summary: The Greek gods can fall in love with anyone of different jobs, titles, and, races. Which include borrowers. For the first time a borrower catches the eye of Athena and she gifts him with a beautiful baby girl who he raises to be a perfect borrower. But now she's cast into the world of gods, goddesses, monsters and traitors when, before, the world was already against her...
1. Not So Happy Birthday

**Okay, I'm _officious_ _ly_ not dead! (I'm also putting this author note at the top off all these chapters so if you just want to read this once then just skip it the next chapter :)**

 **First things first, you have to thank the lovely and brilliant _amerdism_ for all they have done for not only this story but for getting me out of my funk. So thank you amerdism, you are the greatest person of _all time._**

 **I want to thank every single one of you, weather you've commented, simply read, favorited, or skimmed over my work or bio, _all_ of you are amazing and brilliant and I thank you so much for all that you've done. I truly am sorry, and I will never do it again.**

 **Thank you again to amerdism. Seriously, you truly are the greatest person I will ever know. Have a great night!**

* * *

Even inside the walls, the world is never safe for Dess. It's just always been against her. Not that it's her fault, or her parents, but that did make things seem as if it weren't fair, weren't right. As if some kind of mix up happened. As if she was meant for more…

Her head shakes as she chuckles and jogs into the living room her dad's extremely proud of.

"Dad?" Dess only briefly looks up before emptying out her bag onto the table made from a card and different thimbles as chairs. Nothing much, even for a borrower, but oh well. Home sweet home.

"Dess!" a voice cries. The young borrower tries to look for the source, but before she can do anything she's swept into the air, thrown over a shoulder, and spun around in fast circles.

"Da-a-a-a-ad!" she hisses, keeping it down at the knowledge the humans that own the house are indeed home. "You know how dizzy that makes me!"

"Oh poppycock!" Saying that she's let go, spinning in her own circles as her brain tries to orient itself. Laughing heartily her father offers his arm and she finally gets a good look at the man who raised her all on his own.

His bright brown eyes reflect against the dark lighting, his teeth perfectly set, and his light brown hair an unruly mess like always. The man's always been handsome, and a little mischievous, but his smarts were the major tribute for his wife to gift him with Iridessa.

Her mother was actually killed when she was incredibly little, leaving her not even an imprint of what she looked like, only the presence of a warm smile and sweet voice. But according to her dad, Dess looks a lot like her mom, except for the constantly messy brown hair.

As if reading her mind he cups his hand against her cheek, sighing.

"You look just like her. A beautiful young woman who will always have my heart." They smile widely when he winks. "Oh, and your mom too."

"Dad!" Dess cries, laughing as she shoves him. She's only rewarded with a shrug and her hair ruffled.

"I have to. Now, what'd you get this time?"

"Oh! I got this wonderful new item you can probably spend a long time with!" Dess exclaims, quickly searching through her bag for the carefully wrapped object.

Her dad tries to see past her figure but he's shoved away from sight. Dess hears a humph, smiling at his reaction. Oh how he'll wish he wasn't so curious.

"It's the tip of a, whoops!"

The object, the tip of an ink-jammed pen slips from her fingers and collides with her father. Immediately the ink splatters all over him; his clothes, his face, the ground by his feet. Dess bursts out laughing, glad her prank went even better than she hoped.

"Whoops?" is all that's commented. Recovering from the burst, Dess looks at her dad, only to see him gathering as much ink as he can into a misshapen ball.

"Dad! No!" she yells, totally forgetting the humans above might hear her. With the knowledge he'll smear her with ink she sprints, racing into the bedroom and out the other door, right back into the kitchen with her father hot on her heels.

"You asked for it!" he calls.

"It's _my_ prank!"

"Now it's mine!" At this the ink is smeared all across her back. Screaming Dess turns toward him, hoping to stop the attack, but she only helps him get the sticky blue ink all over her.

As soon as he's satisfied the two break into laughter and fall into a heap. Dess kisses her father's forehead and makes a face. He may have gotten her back, but at least it's not in her hair.

"I love you Dad."

"I love you too Dess." Another chuckle leaps out of him when he grabs her shoulder. "I have a present for you birthday girl."

Dess freezes at this, allowing the information to completely sink in.

Today she turns 13, a big day for borrowers. It's hard to reach that age with the world always being against her, way too out of proportion. Not that it's anyone's fault, but it'd be nicer if things were borrower size. Or that humans were nicer.

"Wow. I'm 13," she murmurs. Her dad laughs then offers her an ink-stained hand.

"There's something I want to show you." Dess looks at the hand with a raised eyebrow, and after he smiles innocently does she take his hand.

Only to have him throw her over his shoulder and twirl in circles again.

"Dad! Nooooot faaaaaaair!" she cries. He keeps spinning until Dess can't possibly tell where she is or how long it's been since the world was still.

"Ta da!" She's plopped onto the ground, hands gripping her shoulders so she doesn't fall. Heedless to say she can't identify the room until a few minutes later. But what's on the bed is what catches her eyes.

A necklace, much like humans wear around all the time, sits glistening. A beautiful grey stone that looks like her eyes, complete with a storm swirling inside it, reflects the little amount of light inside the room. Attached to the stone is a silver chain, pieces of metal woven together to stay twisted forever.

And it's her size, not gigantic like everything else.

"Oh Dad," Dess whispers.

"Your mother wanted me to give you the stone when you turned 13. I thought maybe you'd also like a chain to go with it." He smiles as she slowly nods, raising the necklace up to look at it.

The stone is as big as her thumb, amazing considering any precious gem was always bigger than her head. Twirling her fingers along the chain, she recognizes the marks a source of flame being used on the metal.

"You _made_ this chain?"

"'Course! Don't want any string or leather to have something like that to hang on. Here." As he speaks, her father gently takes the gem and slides it over her head. "Now it looks much better."

"Oh Dad," she cries, leaping into his arms. It must of taken weeks, _months_ just to make this chain. He couldn't scavenge it or else the chain itself would be thicker than her arm. He didn't have to, leather is much easier to make, but he used metal instead.

"Happy birthday," he breathes. They stand in a hug melting into each other as a distant door closes.

That's when they hear a scraping noise from above.

"Dad?" Dess hisses. He only takes out his hook, gripping it tightly. The scraping comes back and he gently shoves his daughter toward the door.

Bad move. The scratching gets louder, fiercer, and a giant black paw breaks through the roof.

"RUN!"

Dess immediately grabs her father's hand and runs, far away from whatever beast. She races past the kitchen, throws the door far away, and pulls them into the walls.

Problem is a loud howl erupts around them and the scraping reappears right next to them.

"DAD!" Dess screams. He only yanks her into another pathway which should slow the creature down.

The two flop down and breathe rapidly.

"Dess, I need you to listen. You have to get to Camp Half-Blood. If anyone, even if they're human, knows that name you _must_ trust them no matter what, got it?"

"Wait, a human? But-"

"They're not to be trusted, I know. Dess." She's pulled in close as he squeezes her hand. "That stone will protect you. Well, it'll level the playing field but it'll help you. Just get to Camp Half-Blood and I promise you'll be safe."

His daughter stares into his eyes as he pleads.

"What about you?"

"I'll meet you later. I promise we'll see each other again. But it won't happen if you don't get to camp, okay?" The two look at each other until finally Dess nods.

"I will Dad." He sighs sadly and kisses her forehead.

"I love you Iridessa."

"I love you too." Another loud sound and the scratching comes right next to them. Dess freezes up but her father pats her back gently.

"Reach camp, I'll see you soon. Now." He takes her necklace off and hands it to her. "Run."

Before anything else happens he sprints off, angling toward the wall their house was in. The creature hesitates then bounds that way as if confused.

Dess, left on her own, watches him leave. She wants to go after him, wants to help, wants to do anything but run the other way.

Her dad needs her.

Knowing exactly what to do she sprints the opposite way, straight for the door. Even if the couple were in the house, the creature would certainly have made them run the other way, leaving her safe to be out in the open.

If she was correct, putting the necklace on would make the creature come to her, because that's it found them the first time. There's a howl down the hallway that freezes Iridessa's blood.

She doesn't hesitate and throws the necklace over her head as she stands in front of the door.

A low growl begins. Dess looks everywhere, but when she focuses on the kitchen does the creature reveal itself to be a giant black hound with blood red eyes. They lock on her form within seconds with a wicked grin stretched across its face.

Dess stands frozen under its gaze. She thought it'd be smaller like normal dogs are, but here it is big, bruting, and vicious.

It steps forward. The ground shakes and Dess falls onto the ground. Her stomach floods with pain as do her lungs as the air is ripped from her. Everything feels like it's on fire, her muscles and her heart. Especially her mind. They've been so good at hiding. How did this _thing_ find them? The worst thing to find them too considering how determined and equipped it is to hurting her, killing her.

It creeps forward slowly, but instead of the bone crushing force Dess expected the footsteps stop, as if scared. That's when a voice rumble through the air, the last thing she remembers before completely collapsing into a heap.

"Stay, away, from my daughter."


	2. Retrieved

**Okay, I'm _officious_ _ly_ not dead! (I'm also putting this author note at the top off all these chapters so if you just want to read this once then just skip it the next chapter :)**

 **First things first, you have to thank the lovely and brilliant _amerdism_ for all they have done for not only this story but for getting me out of my funk. So thank you amerdism, you are the greatest person of _all time._**

 **I want to thank every single one of you, weather you've commented, simply read, favorited, or skimmed over my work or bio, _all_ of you are amazing and brilliant and I thank you so much for all that you've done. I truly am sorry, and I will never do it again.**

 **Thank you again to amerdism. Seriously, you truly are the greatest person I will ever know. Have a great night!**

* * *

Percy groans as he jogs to the house Chiron said a demigod would be living. Why he had to get them Percy doesn't know, but at least he got to leave the camp after most of the summer being incredibly uneventful.

Percy looks at all the houses and raises an eyebrow. Either the demigod is the kid of an extremely weak god, or they're still too young to know what they might be.

But if those were true, why send him in?

Usually when Percy is sent to find another demi-god, monsters will be around. Or at least the traces of a big fight would be left behind. Nothing tells him of a fight, of any monster being here, not even a weird presence.

That's when the house he was sent to sounds a loud _crash!_

Percy sprints to the door and kicks it down. Seeing how easily it complies he notices it was unlocked. _Whoops._

In front of him stands a wall that looks as if a hellhound was trying to make it its chew toy. The damage doesn't travel further from there, so that means that the kid managed to stop the monster before any serious damage.

Percy kneels next to the young girl passed out on the floor. He looks around but there's no other hellhound around, not even the part of the monster that stays whenever it's killed. _Weird._

He gently grabs her shoulder and shakes it to wake her up, immediately causing her eyes to reveal their caramel brown color. The two stare at each other, Percy confused of how she woke up that quickly and how she looks confused herself.

"Please, take-" she begins, but then she just goes limp and falls back to the floor completely out.

Percy hesitates then shakes her shoulder again. She doesn't move one inch, completely dead to what's going on in the waking world. Shaking her again doesn't do anything except establish she's passed out. He looks at her, smirking at the splattered blue paint covering her entire face and arm, then groans as he swiftly picks her up and throws her over his shoulder.

"Alright. More like a search and rescue," Percy mutters. He then carefully maneuvers through the house to see if anyone was inside. Seeing that no one was he then heads outside, again watching for any people or other hellhounds. When neither come he tracks back to the trail he took from the camp to her house, glad it's only a twenty minute walk.

He feels weird holding her like this, as though she's a sack of potatoes. It's impossible to put her in any other with riptide out in case monster appears. But even with this fact Percy still winches as she swings in time with his steps.

 _Well, it's got to be better then getting killed by a monster, but she'll be feeling it in the morning. Er, when she wakes up. What happened to her anyway?_

A growl erupts his thoughts and Percy swings riptide, causing another hellhound to fall to ashes. Nothing else comes, until he reaches about another yard to kill yet another hellhound. It keeps going like this, them each coming individually instead of in packs. Better for Percy so he doesn't have to drop the girl, possibly leaving her unguarded, but it is annoying.

Finally after all the fun of hiking it back carrying the new camper Percy reaches the hill, his companion not even stirring once during the trip.

"Percy?" he hears. Chiron gallops onto the top of the hill and offers his arms for the girl.

"Sorry, I'm fine. She's just a bit awkward to carry. Man she's tiny." Percy cracks his back then caps riptide. "I didn't see her parents. She was alone when I found her."

"Interesting. Come on, we should get you both to the infirmary." Chiron walks away before his student can retaliate. A moment of silence ends with a groan defeat as Percy follows down the hill.

"How have the rest of the campers been?"

"Percy, you were gone for an hour at the most. Nothing happened." Percy chuckles at the scowl Chiron gives him and shrugs.

"Normally I'm gone for days. It's just habit." The three walk past the strawberry fields, satyrs playing their flutes to help them grow nice and big. A great way to get the most money in the market to give to heros going on quests. No one can compete against their fruits.

As they pass Percy laughs as a few satyrs have to chase some troublesome campers out of the fields. The campers run out, but once they're ignored they sneak back into the fields.

"It turns out the girl you rescued is incredibly, different. The gods have been arguing about her," Chiron begins. This causes Percy to stop. _What would they be arguing about? Did she possibly steal something too? Is she a powerful child?_

Seeing Chiron didn't stop for him he then races forward, wanting to put these theories to work.

"Arguing about her? Is she the daughter of the Great Three?" He thinks back to his father, Poseidon, wondering if he's been going around having heroes who'll have to fight for their life more so than others. Just like him.

"Oh no. Your father only has you, Percy. And neither has Zeus or Hades. It's because she's not, human." Chiron glances at Percy, stopping this time when Percy freezes.

"Not human? But she _looks_ human. And even if she wasn't they shouldn't just _decide_ if she can live. They wouldn't even know about her kind if none of them didn't fall in love with her mother-slash-father," Percy growls. Thunder rumbles and he glares at the sky. "It's true!"

"Percy, please stop patronizing the gods." It was the centaur's turn to groan, casting a glance at the brewing sky. Nothing bad happens so Chiron only fixes Percy with an honorable glare. He only gets a shrug though and a scowl of his own.

"Okay, so if she's not human then, what is she?" Percy offers to take the girl as they enter the infirmary, placing her onto an empty cot. He glances around but only one other cot is taken, home for a new girl finishing her cast. After it's finished she skips out happily, leaving Percy with his teacher and a very mysterious girl.

"I don't exactly know yet. But, I've never heard of their race before," Chiron sighs. He bends over to move the girl's blonde hair away from her face. It's as if he's worried of what'll happen to her. And it must be tough, since he hasn't even trained her at all yet. She just _got_ here.

"Er, when do they want her to come up?" Percy questions. If they're deciding what to do with her she should have an 'appointment' with the gods. And her mother or father hasn't claimed her yet so they can't beg her parent to fight to keep her at camp.

"That's yet to be decided. It's been quite a one sided argument without any solid evidence about anything. They need to talk about it more." As Percy sighs at this Chiron pats his shoulder. "They'll make the right decision."

"Chiron, you're the best jockster I know," Percy mutters, rolling his eyes. His mentor only laughs and pulls Percy close.

"I'm going to grab some ambrosia. Keep an eye on her for me." And with that he's gone.

Percy sighs and flops into the cot beside the girl. He knows she's a demigod, that she's not human any more so than Percy, and that her hair is blonde. It can't be fair to judge her based on only that. Maybe she's in a little need of anger managment like him, or she's incredibly sweet. She could be like anyone, live a completely awful or great life. And even if she's one of those two, she might change. _Yet they want to judge her fate._

Not knowing how tired he was, Percy falls asleep once his thoughts settle, allowing his body to rest in what felt like days.


	3. Rude Awakening

**Okay, I'm _officious_ _ly_ not dead! (I'm also putting this author note at the top off all these chapters so if you just want to read this once then just skip it the next chapter :)**

 **First things first, you have to thank the lovely and brilliant _amerdism_ for all they have done for not only this story but for getting me out of my funk. So thank you amerdism, you are the greatest person of _all time._**

 **I want to thank every single one of you, weather you've commented, simply read, favorited, or skimmed over my work or bio, _all_ of you are amazing and brilliant and I thank you so much for all that you've done. I truly am sorry, and I will never do it again.**

 **Thank you again to amerdism. Seriously, you truly are the greatest person I will ever know. Have a great night!**

* * *

Iridessa groans as she slowly wakes up, not really remembering falling asleep in the first place. Her face feels frozen and cracked, eliciting a wince as she feels the dried blue ink from before. Blinking she looks around for her father, wondering why he let her go to bed with the ink covering her entire face.

That's when she spots the light filtering through open windows.

Dess immediately leaps off whatever she was laying on and crawls underneath it, glad to have some kind of cover. Borrowers should never go out in the day time. Even if they lived in the forest instead of a human's house they stay inside as much as they could. Being in the open means an animal can get them, or an exploring human, or a falling acorn. So many things can go wrong. At least she's safer though, able to look out and see what's happening safely…

There's a groan and something shifting catches her attention. Her head snaps up and she gasps at a boy with black hair sleeping away on a bed. In the _open._

"Hey!" she hisses. Her hand shoots out once she judges the coast is clear and grabs his blue shirt. For a second her brow furrows at how rough the fabric is, but ignores it as she yanks on his sleeve.

Immediately he's awake and yelping as he collides with the floor.

"What in the god's name are you doing!"

"Shh!" Dess quickly grabs his sleeve again and yanks him under the bed she hides under. "You're gonna get us killed!"

"Really? What happened? A hellhound?" he asks, growing stiff and alert. Iridessa shakes her head and pulls him further under the bed.

"We're too close to the outside. Something will see us." When he doesn't answer she looks at him to glare fiercely as he shakes his head, smiling. "What's so funny?"

"You. Want to mess with me on your first day? Quite a gutsy move." The boy then rolls away, obviously going to stand up once he's out from under the bed. Dess gasps in fear and yanks him back under, earning another yelp as she holds him tight to keep any humans from spotting him.

"Are you _crazy._ Humans will see you through those and come to hurt you. Stay down here so you at least have a chance of surviving," Iridessa scolds, her heart beating wildly at how this boy seems to _want_ to get caught. She looks back at the boy frightfully and breathes out relieved as he slowly nods.

"You're scared of humans."

"You're not?"

"No. Come on, I promise no one will hurt you here. You're in Camp Half-Blood now." His words stunn her into silence. Her father said something about Camp Half-Blood, that it's alright to trust humans here. And with another borrower obviously not scared of them then that means she really is safe. It seems impossible, but apparently not all of the world is against her…

"You promise?" A bit of terror leaks out and the boy softens his eyes.

"I promise. Nothing will hurt you as long as you're here." He carefully slides out from under the bed, looking into her eyes the entire time. Once he's out in the open he raises an eyebrow in question. Gulping Dess carefully begins to follow, slowly but surely sliding toward him and out of hiding.

"My, my name is Iridessa. But, but my dad calls me Dess," she mutters.

"I'm Percy. It's nice to meet you Dess." He smiles once she's completely out of the bed's shadow then stands up. Dess hesitates, looking fearfully up at the windows where humans can simply glance through and see her, vulnerable and out in the open. Another look at Percy though and she stands up. If she can't trust her dad's word and another borrower, then who can she trust?

"See. Nothing to worry about." He offers a smile and she returns it. A long sigh comes and she finally relaxes. It's safe. This place is safe.

"You're always welcome here." Turning to see the borrower who walked in Dess smiles kindly, remembering her manners.

Only to burst out screaming as she jerks back to get away.

"Dess! Hey what's wrong?" Percy is ignored completely as she sprints away from the newcomer and to the door, pushing at it to get her out. The only problem is, it won't open.

Her eyes frantically scan the door and see a sphere jutting out from the edge. She jams her hand on it, scratches it, pleads for it to open but nothing works. She then spins around, knowing the newcomer can easily attack her with her back to them. Seeing them again she bursts into tears and resorts to scowling as a false bravo.

"Dess. It's okay. He's a friend."

"NO!" Percy jerks back at this, surprised by the volume just as much as Iridessa. "Y-you can _not_ be real," she breathes.

Standing before her is a man, but instead of just a man, he's also an animal. Honestly, Dess is joyful an animal has a man head, meaning they think better than others. Dogs want to eat her and cats want to chase her, but at least humans could be reasoned with. But that's not the problem.

The problem is that the man-animal is _her size._


	4. Protected

**Okay, I'm _officious_ _ly_ not dead! (I'm also putting this author note at the top off all these chapters so if you just want to read this once then just skip it the next chapter :)**

 **First things first, you have to thank the lovely and brilliant _amerdism_ for all they have done for not only this story but for getting me out of my funk. So thank you amerdism, you are the greatest person of _all time._**

 **I want to thank every single one of you, weather you've commented, simply read, favorited, or skimmed over my work or bio, _all_ of you are amazing and brilliant and I thank you so much for all that you've done. I truly am sorry, and I will never do it again.**

 **Thank you again to amerdism. Seriously, you truly are the greatest person I will ever know. Have a great night!**

* * *

Before Percy can react, or even blink at what just occurred, a bright light fills the room and Dionysus appears to stand between Chiron, him, and Iridessa.

"Ah, good. I'm glad Peter was able to get you here safely," the god smirks. He looks over Dess as he speaks and a small smile makes its way onto his face. _When has he ever smiled?_

"How is he my size? And how did you appear?" Dess asks, gesturing to Chiron then to the god. Percy scowls at the comment and opens his mouth to rebuke the obvious, the centur being about three feet taller than her, but one look from Director D shuts him up.

"It's a bit tough to explain right now. How about we get you settled and as events slowly unfold, so will your answers." The god of wine kneels down to where she sits, extending a hand to the still frightened girl. To her credit, other than her outburst she looks completely in control of the situation, looking everywhere and keeping in mind who's in the room.

"Is my dad safe?" is muttered and immediately Dionysus nods his head.

"He is safe. But right now you need to worry about the world you've been thrown into. Your father is a great man, but your mother has a great power that now resides inside you."

"A human killed my mother," Iridessa snaps, her voice still very quiet. At this Percy's eyes widen, understanding gripping him like a merciless hand around his throat. Her mother was, or supposedly was, killed by a human. And yet, when he said they were safe she _trusted_ him. How much has she gone through to immediately trust a stranger who goes against her lesson that humans are dangerous all her life?

"Do you remember the voice when the black dog attacked you?" Dionysus continues. Her head bobs up and down as he offers a smile. "That was your mother. There are beings called gods and goddesses, and sometimes they fall in love with mortals, or humans, and have a child. The rules of when they have one means they can't see them until they are ready for the world full of monsters and fighting."

Chiron walks over to Percy quietly as the boy processes what exactly was being said. Director D said something about her hearing a voice. And it being her mother's, a _goddess's_ voice. His father _never_ saved him even though he was a child of the Big Three, so why was _she_ saved!

His mouth opens once again, demanding to get some answers, but Chion puts a hand on his shoulder, probably knowing the explanation would upset him. He looks up with a glare but as the centur looks back with sorrowful eyes, Percy takes a deep breath and tucks his questions for later. _Fine, but I'm yelling when I talk to him no matter what you tell me._

"Goddess?"

"Yes. It means she has incredible powers, special to something in the world, such as family, love, the sky. We all have powers connected to something humans know and live by." Dess' eyes furrow at this, looking a bit comical with all that blue spattered across her face.

"And you're saying my mother is one of these beings," she breathes. At this Percy forgets why he was angry, well almost forgets. At that moment she looks like just a regular camper, someone who really believed one of their parents was dead, and had almost lost the other. His shoulders slump at how rude he was and walks over to her, kneeling down next to the god of wine. No one says anything so he smiles at her.

"It's a lot to take in. I thought my father was dead too. But you're safe here. Nothing and no one will hurt you. We'll help you fight against monsters, and make sure you're safe, especially with humans, okay?" Dess locks eyes with him and nods once, firm and believing. He sighs at this and smiles again, glad to have gotten across to her in a good way.

"But I will be able to see him again?" Dess questions. Percy then looks up at Dionysus for this one which elicits the god to nod.

"Yes. It may be a little bit, but you will be able to see him. For now, Chiron will tell you a little about camp while I explain a few things to Peter." With that the reluctant director stands up and walks out of the room. Percy stares after him then races off, waving at Dess as she smiles widely at him and Chiron. Glad she seems at ease with his teacher, he catches up to the god as he drinks a can of Coke, relaxed as ever.

Percy, on the other hand, wanted to kill something.

"Her mother _saved her_!" he bursts. Dionysus raises an eyebrow and looks at the demigod.

"You managed to figure that out?" he smirks. Percy growls then points to the corridor.

"She, not even a child of the Big Three, was _saved_. None of you had _ever_ done that for any of us! Grover was the only one who tried to help me, yet this one is special simply because she's _not human_!" His eyes alight with anger watch the god as he ponders what Percy said. After he finishes his drink he then walks close to the boy, leaning closer so they are face to face, barely an inch apart.

"Listen Percy. I understand why you're angry, Zeus is even more so. But there are a few things you don't know, and may not ever know, about this girl. She's not human, but there's a bigger thing under the surface you can't see right now. I need you to watch over her Percy Jackson. She is to protected at all costs, and only those who _I_ trust is allowed to know anything that you find out. No best friends, no half-siblings, just those _I_ inform, even if you figure something out. She is under no circumstances to be put in any sort of danger. If anything, and I mean _anything_ happens to her, and you didn't do something to stop it, you _will_ be killed on the spot, not a care in the world on my part for what your daddy thinks or does."

Percy's eyes widen at the little speech, his stomach in knots by how serious the normally chill god of wine is. Iridessa, she's really someone to be watching after. No one is ever called by their correct name by the director, _no one._ And even if, not their last name too. He's dead serious, and now he's scared for not only her life but _his._

Yet again, Percy Jackson, the boy who never asked for any of this, is given a life threatening quest on not even his second year of camp. _Why?_

"Yes sir," he breathes once the director doesn't move. Dionysus searches his eyes, making Percy gulp, until after an eternity he finally straightens out and smiles brightly.

"Right then Peter, go one and make sure Iris gets comfortable. Oh, and if you lose her, get me immediately." With that he walks out of the room, leaving Percy in awe of what just occurred.

 _What have I gotten myself into? I only brought her to camp!_

"Percy," a voice pipes up. He spins around and out of his trance to see Dess standing by the doorway, her eyes downcast as she smiles shyly. "I wanted to thank you for saving me from the black dog. I mean, hellhound."

"Oh." His head shakes out the events of a few moments ago to smile warmly.

"And Chiron said you knew the camp best. Would you mind showing me around? I just, don't know if I could do it alone." Her voice becomes leading and Percy feels the need to protect her even without a humongous, godly death threat. She's so innocent, so scared of what's going on, yet willing to learn everything she needs in order to survive.

"No of course not. I can definitely show you around." His feet finally unglue themselves from the floor as he walks over to her and gestures for her to follow.

"Are there others too?"

"Oh yeah. There are a ton of us. You're a demigod now. So, welcome to the family." With a bright smile and a heavy heart weighed down by his task at hand, Percy then reaches for the doorknob and swings it open for sunlight to stream in.


	5. Conflicting Worlds

Dess watches as Percy reaches for the door. So much had happened, with her father being attacked, her mother having saved her apparently, and with beings that are even greater than humans, it's been so much. Her nerves are on edge with the new information going her way, especially the part about humans being trustworthy. How borrowers were ever able to adapt to something so strange and completely against everything they were taught, is completely beyond her, but she will try. She will always try. For her dad.

Iridessa holds her breath as Percy opens the door, her heart in her throat. She's never been outside before. So many times she went up to the window in the kitchen, wanting to know what went on. She never went out, knowing that a simple falling acorn could easily kill her, but she would dream and watch. In the window she could only see the trees quite a few feet away, nothing important. She couldn't even really see what was above the trees, their boring green leaves cutting off everything from view.

Immediately though, instead of the dark green and wooden brown she's come to memorize, she sees colors. Greens, purple, brown, yellows, white, reds, blue. It's a beautiful landscape, green covering the entire ground with patches of brown everywhere. Off in the distant there's more green except with red splashes dotting it, each red either slightly darker or lighter than the next. Purple and yellow clumps are further than that, seemingly to be close to each other but so different. Even with the trees she's come to know as the only thing that was outside, it's all beautiful.

"It's gorgeous," she breathes. Percy turns to her with a smirk, shrugging at the comment.

"That's one way to describe camp," he smiles. Her eyes drift down to his and she starts at how far away he is. Her instincts kick in and she quickly goes to his side, acting like a shadow just like her father taught her. Close, quiet, and ready to observe every movement Percy makes.

Percy jerks back when she does this, flinching away once again when she follows the movement. A second goes by of him appraising her but soon he shakes his head and begins to walk.

Iridessa only follows willingly, doing what every borrower learning something new does; she follows and doesn't speak a word.

"Here are the cabins that represent the major gods and goddesses. We stay in the one's that represent our godly half of our parents. Until your mom declares you as her's, you'll be staying in the Hermes cabin, being the god of travelers and all that." Percy keeps talking, dancing in and out of what Dess understands. Chiron had spoken a lot about gods and goddesses and what they can do, but she doesn't know the details.

Doing what all borrowers do, she tells Percy how confused she is through her body language, her footsteps becoming hesitant and her shoulders slumped to convey a humble appearance.

She did everything right, knowing what would make her look confident, uncertain, and confused. Only, Percy doesn't seem to notice. He keeps talking as if she never did anything.

Her brow furrows as she dips further into a confused position, adding the expression along with it, but he continues without hesitation. Maybe he never had to teach another borrower and therefore didn't know to follow the ques? Looking harder he has heavy steps, a clear voice that could easily be heard by humans if he was in the walls. Noted there haven't been any rumbles in the ground to signal a human coming, but through habit he should be quiet with light steps that he would've been trained to instinctively do.

"Percy?" He turns around as he stops, a smile on his face waiting for the question. "Have you ever gone borrowing?"

"Um, borrowing?" he begins. The smile is gone, instead replaced by a confused grin. Dess' eyes widen when he doesn't knowledge the activity with certainty. He must've never been taught of how to borrow then, maybe being too reckless or had to come here at such a young age.

Finally having an idea of why he hasn't noticed all the ques borrowers are taught in order to ask a question when a human is close, she feels more comfortable and better adapt to what's going on.

"It's alright. I was just curious." Her body language, more out of habit this time, becomes confident and straighter. Percy hesitates at this though, but as she adds a more confident and kind smile, he returns it and turns to show her the rest of camp.

"Well, if you have any other questions you can ask me or anyone else. Before we get you to where you'll be staying though, do you want to get that paint off of your face?" he smirks. Dess reaches up to her face and blushes, forgetting that the ink was still there.

"Yes please." Percy nods and walks over to a rectangular building, smiling encouragingly when she stops at the openings.

"Take your time, I'll just be here." Dess nods but becomes slightly confused at how there are two openings into the washroom.

"I just go into there?" Her finger points to the left opening, ignoring how there seem to be pictures next to the openings. Thank goodness there aren't any doors, she still didn't know how to work the weird spheres attached to the doors, and she hasn't had the chance to ask.

At her gesture though, Percy gives her a weird look and moves her hand to point to the right opening.

"No, that's the boy's restroom. That's would be the girl's." Dess slowly nods as she becomes worried. She shared the same washroom, or restroom, with her dad. Were they supposed to have different one's? Did they need to have separate one's?

"Okay." She'll ask about it later, but for now the ink was starting to itch and distracting. Heading into the restroom Dess freezes once she's inside, marveling at the structure.

Everything is wood, a darker material than what the house she lived in was made out of. Her face lights up at the doors that open by a simple push like they're supposed to. On a counter immediately to her left look exactly like the sinks she used to get cold water, only her size and easily wielded by a single hand instead of her entire body. Percy said humans were really nice, so they must've helped them make things like this, wood and steel being so hard for a borrower to get.

Flicking the knob toward her, water immediately gushes out at a controlled stream. Kneeling down she smiles at the intricate work that must've gone into it in order for something like this to be their size. Her father could've done it, he just didn't have the necessary materials in order for it to work.

Quickly rubbing the ink off her face, Dess was in much better spirits. Humans are friendly here, no one will hurt her, and every borrower or animal-borrower she's met is incredibly helpful. She can do this. She'll find her dad soon, but for now she needs to learn everything about this camp to be prepared.

A few drops of water dripping down her face she walks out to Percy, immediately going to follow his movements again, only to freeze.

His jaw is tight and arms are crossed. A smile comes when he sees her but it's a bit forced, his nerves on edge for some reason. Looking to his left Dess' eyes widen at another borrower standing beside Percy.

She's tall, strong, and has a confident personality around her. Her vicious smirk shows a tough presence, ready for anything. Her short brown hair makes her look even tougher, but those brown eyes hold something a bit loving inside of them. It's small but there, covered by the fierce aura covering her.

Between the two Percy's t-shirt and uncontrolled blue eyes make him seem relaxed and ready to get into a fight. The girl though, with her sleeves having been removed, shows a more controlled, determined stance of strength.

All in all she seems like the greatest borrower Dess has ever met. Strong, confident, but calculating. No one could beat this girl.

"So this is the runt Mr. D wants us to put a 'no touching' policy," she snorts. Dess walks over to her and smiles shyly.

"Hi. I'm Iridessa but you can call me Dess. What's your name?"

The girl kind of melts at this, her eyes becoming just a tad more vulnerable and revealing at Dess' approach, but her demeanor doesn't waver once. She does stick her hand out though, offering it like Dess has seen many humans at the house do.

"I'm Clarisse." Dess quickly reaches forward and grabs the hand, moving her arm up and down just like she'd seen. Clarisse then takes back her hand and Dess beams, proud she seemed to have gotten the ritual right.

"She's the daughter of Ares, the god of war," Percy adds. Dess' eyes get big as she looks back over at Clarisse. She never saw something about war, but the humans of the house always said it was horrible leaving many people dead and needed to be dealt with extreme caution.

"No wonder you're so strong. You had two people wanting you to be strong to survive in this world. I wish I had that, but I only had my dad to raise me. You must be really good at defending yourself."

"Y-yeah." Clarisse's eyes widen at the comment but Dess only smiles, knowing what she said was true. If her mother was a borrower then she'd be taught to survive. But with someone the god of war as your father, then both parents would want her to stay safe and ready for anything. Anything to have a hand up in the world, even if they're only three inches tall.

"Wow. Never seen you so speechless before," Percy smirks. Clarisse spins to him, eyes angry as she growls.

"None of your business."

"You sure about that? I finally know how to make your ugly face shut up. Got daddy issues?"

"Shut up. You don't know anything idiot." Dess stares at the two, seeing Clarisse become tense, much like Percy was a few moments ago. She becomes alight with a need to prove herself, but Iridessa sees how Percy is simply teasing her, but then again his stance is strong like he wants to make her feel useless. Why would he want to do that?

"Makes sense since your father probably never wanted you to be cabin leader. Said a man would be better for the job..."

Dess didn't see it coming, but apparently Percy did, ducking swiftly as Clarisse swings her fist at him. He moves backwards but Clarisse advances, swinging again with controlled moves as she ducks at his own throws.

Borrowers never fight each other. The world is too dangerous to have two enemies at the same time. Every borrower accepts another if they're in trouble, keeping them fed and safe and healthy if anything bad should happen. They're there for each other, no matter what.

So why are these two fighting? And it's not joking either, the light in Clarisse's eyes saying she wants to land a hit at least once, and Percy being on guard for every attack. Why would they do that? Even over something sensitive? It shouldn't make them fight and hurt the other, no matter what.

Before she realized what she was doing, Dess moves forward right after Clarisse ducks, seeing her stance ready to stop if something like an innocent person jumps in front. Diving into the middle she faces Percy with a worried expression, wanting the two to stop.

Her plan and timing was perfect, except she didn't realize how much Percy also wanted to land at least one hit, his fist coming for her before he could stop it. She freezes as his panicked eyes meet hers, his regret clearing painted cross his face.

But it doesn't touch her. The world seems to be sucked away right before his hand could so much as brush her hair, and it's gone. Only the gasp is heard as she drops onto her back, eyes wide at what she saw.

The green she saw before wasn't there anymore, but instead giant blades of green stretch far above her. Her head whips to a shaking only humans can make, only to stop when she sees what caused it.

A giant tennis shoe stands before her, something she sees everyday. But, no humans had walked up to them when the two had fought, she would've felt the tremors long before. This time they seemed to just appear out of nowhere.

Wanting to understand what happened her eyes then trail up, along the leg connected to the shoe, climbing up the shorts and the shirt to pale at who is standing in front of her.

Percy, who only a moment ago stood only about nine inches above her, is now over a hundred feet tall. Something only humans can be, not borrowers she was just talking to.


End file.
